‘The Black Lizard’ compiles tons of classic crime fiction.

Otto Penzler's massive new crime anthology collects 1,168 pages of dangerous dames, nasty men, scuzzy loan sharks, and dubious red herrings. These forty-seven stories and two novels trace the evolution of crime fiction in the twenties, thirties, and forties as it was propagated by unknowns and anointed kingpins like Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, and Dashiell Hammett. Sure, some of the tales are painfully dated, but others (like Hammett's "The Creeping Siamese") will surprise you with their dogma-bashing street smarts and stone-dry wit.

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